Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Isla
Certainty is the calm before the storm. -Stewart Stafford
Six months later.
“You don’t have to work today?” I asked, sitting at Julius’s desk. “You’re usually gone all weekend.”
Julius grinned. “You trying to get rid of me?”
“I mean,” I teased, cocking my head to the side. “I am really busy these days. My calendar is just scheduled to the max.”
“Oh yeah? What’s it filled with?”
“Let’s see, I have to finish this homework and then I have to start dinner. I was thinking of maybe trying out that new grill you bought. What do you think about shish kebabs?”
With a playful expression, he implied, “You know how to handle a kebab?”
I giggled, blushing. I felt the heat instantly sweep my skin.
This was definitely one of the biggest things that changed between us over the past year since we met.
We’d openly flirt.
Play around.
Cuddle.
His favorite spot to fall asleep was with his head on me as I scratched his back.
We acted like we were dating, but we weren’t even kissing.
At all.
Despite all of that, we were still best friends. It felt natural to behave this way around one another after I began talking. His hands were always on me in one way or another, or trying to be. Whether it was to tickle me, touch my skin, or even hold my hand.
When he wasn’t working, we did everything together.
I experienced so many firsts with him over the past couple of months.
He took me to the movies, the beach, and the parks all over New York.
We rode the Staten Island Ferry and visited Grand Central Station.
The list went on and on. It was his first time going to most of these places too.
I started to enjoy life with him, and it was very much mutual.
He wasn’t working nearly as much as he was before, but he was making more money. Not that I paid any attention to that. He still performed with his brother whenever they could get together. I think it was more about bonding than the money these days.
However, it was hard not to notice that Julius seemed less stressed and was smiling much more.
He seemed really happy, and I loved that I was part of the reason. It was like that for me, too.
We laughed.
We joked.
We busted each other’s balls.
I was at peace…
For the first time in my life, I was truly safe.
I hope this calm will last forever, but I felt a storm was brewing. Julius grinned with a mischievous gaze as if he could read my thoughts. I swallowed the saliva that had suddenly pooled in my mouth. My skin was feeling flushed all over, and he wasn’t even touching me.
“Care to elaborate on what you’re talking about?” I asked, smirking like a fool.
The intensity that radiated from his demeanor had me weak in the knees, and I found it hard to breathe. He slowly licked his lips with his predatory regard as he eyed me up and down.
He was there.
Permanent.
Embedded in my heart.
Julius turned eighteen, and Kraven and I turned seventeen.
We spent our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together, and I didn’t burn the turkeys for either holiday.
We put up a tree that we cut down ourselves.
I figured we’d create ornaments out of paper or something, so I was surprised when Kraven said I could use what was in the garage.
I found a lot of amazing memories, but I tried not to use them. Especially the ones where the boys made the ornaments. I was surprised by how much their parents kept, giving me hope that maybe it wasn’t always bad for them.
There were several gifts under the tree.
From clothes to shoes to a new backpack for me.
My most treasured gift was the AirPods Julius upgraded for me.
I couldn’t believe he spent that much money.
He also managed to transfer all of my music from my old MP3 player to my cell phone.
I had no idea when he managed to pull that off.
I made him a dinner coupon book featuring all his favorite meals and added a few pictures of us from my phone, which I then put in a frame for him.
Kraven and I exchanged gifts, too. I told him I’d tutor him in math, and later that night, there was a black cat, a stuffed animal on Julius’s bed. I didn’t have to ask Kraven to know it was him.
I’d been sleeping in Julius’s room. He was insistent about it after he got back from his weekend trip that afternoon. He still slept on the couch, not setting foot into his parents’ room. They wouldn’t even shower in there.
When Julius was at work and Kraven was around, we’d hang out. It was different from when it was with Julius and me. The more I learned about the brothers, the more I realized they were nothing alike. Complete opposites in almost everything.
As time went on, Kraven’s guard was still up, but he’d show me glimpses of who he was here and there. Julius was secretive, too, and I tried not to pry.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Julius grinned like a fool right back at me.
I looked around the room. “To who?”
“You’re cute when you play innocent. Alright, I’m game.” With the back of his fingers, he swept my hair behind my ear. “What are you thinking?”
“How frustrated you make me.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Depends on who you’re asking.”
“Well, I’m asking you.”
He didn’t falter in replying, “You frustrate me too.”
“How?”
“You want to have this conversation here? Where Kraven could interrupt us at any moment? He seems to have a knack for that.”
In one quick, fluid motion, he backed me up against the wall in his bedroom. I sucked in a breath.
“Isla…” he muttered along my mouth. “This is what’s going to happen next. You’re going to be my good girl and get your sweet little ass on the back of my bike so I can take you for a ride.”
“So no kebabs?”
He chuckled along my mouth, vibrating my lips. My stomach fluttered, and my heart raced.
In one breath, he implied again, “I’ll kebab you later.”
Now it was my turn to laugh out loud. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! You know I don’t like surprises.”
“All the more reason to torture you.”
“I think you have that area pretty much nailed.”
He tried to grip my thigh to tickle me, but I intercepted his hand at the last second.
“Did you see that, Julius Knightly? I have catlike reflexes.” I wiggled my eyebrows.
He grinned wickedly, side-eyeing me. My gaze followed his movement, and he used it to his advantage, squeezing my inner thigh harder.
“No!” I thrashed around. I hated being tickled.
“What was that?” he mocked, squeezing tighter.
I squealed, laughing. “Please!” I begged.
“You want my mercy?”
“Yes!”
“Then repeat after me.”
“I can’t! Stop tickling me first!”
He did, leaving his death grip on me for good measure.
“I, Isla.”
“Are we getting married?”
He clutched on like a vise.
“Okay! Okay!”
He paused his attack, continuing, “Will do everything Julius asks today.”
“It’s not your birthday.”
For his big eighteenth, we celebrated with Roland.
I made him a red velvet cake, and he invited a few friends over.
It was nice. Julius took the whole weekend off from work, and all three of us binged Ozark in the living room.
We ate an obscene amount of junk food and pizza, utterly addicted to the show. Relating to it way too much.
“I only get what I want on my birthday?”
I sassed, “It depends on what you want.”
He didn’t miss a beat. “What if I want you?”
It was the perfect reply and exactly what I craved.
I caved, repeating, “I, Isla, will do everything Julius asks today.”
Meaning every last word.